44 Facts About Kannada

1.

Kannada is a classical Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in the southwestern region of India.

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2.

Kannada is spoken as a second and third language by over 12.

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3.

Kannada was the court language of some of the most powerful dynasties of south and central India, namely the Kadambas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Yadava Dynasty or Seunas, Western Ganga dynasty, Wodeyars of Mysore, Nayakas of Keladi Hoysalas and the Vijayanagara empire.

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4.

Kannada language is written using the Kannada script, which evolved from the 5th-century Kadamba script.

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5.

Kannada is attested epigraphically for about one and a half millennia and literary Old Kannada flourished in the 6th-century Ganga dynasty and during the 9th-century Rashtrakuta Dynasty.

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6.

Kannada has an unbroken literary history of over a thousand years.

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7.

Kannada literature has been presented with 8 Jnanapith awards, the most for any Dravidian language and the second highest for any Indian language.

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8.

In July 2011, a center for the study of classical Kannada was established as part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore to facilitate research related to the language.

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9.

Kannada is influenced to a considerable degree by Sanskrit and Kannada influenced Sanskrit.

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10.

Some naturalised words of Prakrit origin in Kannada are: banna (colour) derived from vanna, hunnime (full moon) from punniva.

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11.

Kannada has borrowed words such as dina (day), kopa (anger), surya (sun), mukha (face), nimisa (minute).

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12.

Kannada pointed out that the languages spoken by essentially nomadic cowherd and shepherd tribes such as Kurkhs, Malers, Golari, Holiya and Halaba contain many Kannada words.

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13.

Kannada dated the antiquity of Kannada as early as the Pre-Christian era.

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14.

Nor can it be said that Kannada had not developed into separate language during the Early Historical Period.

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15.

Kannada was spoken by relatively large and well-settled populations, living in well-organised states ruled by able dynasties like the Satavahanas, with a high degree of civilisation as attested by Prakrit inscriptions and literature of the period, and great architectural monuments like those at Banavasi, Sannati, Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda.

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16.

Possibly more definite reference to Kannada is found in the 'Charition Mime' ascribed to the late 4th century BC to early 2nd century AD.

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17.

The king of this region, and his countrymen, sometimes use their own language, and the sentences they speak could be interpreted as Kannada, including and ("Having taken up the cup separately and having covered (it), I shall take wine separately.

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18.

Bhandarkar concludes that Kannada was at least imperfectly understood in that part of Egypt where the farce was composed and acted, for if the Greek audience in Egypt did not understand even a bit of Kannada, the scene of the drinking bout would be denuded of all its humour and would be entirely out of place.

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19.

The papyrus clearly shows that, in the 2nd century AD, Kannada was spoken in Southern India even by princes, who most probably were Dravidian by extraction.

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20.

Kannada rejects M Govinda Pai's opinion that it must have occurred at Udyavara, the capital of Alupas.

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21.

Kannada inscriptions are not only discovered in Karnataka but quite commonly in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

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22.

Coins with Kannada legends have been discovered spanning the rule of the Western Ganga Dynasty, the Badami Chalukyas, the Alupas, the Western Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Hoysalas, the Vijayanagar Empire, the Kadamba Dynasty of Banavasi, the Keladi Nayakas and the Mysore Kingdom, the Badami Chalukya coins being a recent discovery.

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23.

Kannada was said to have born in Utkalikagrama and while performing penance in Manuvakahalli, he was attacked by a disease called Bhasmaka.

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24.

Some ancient Kannada texts now considered extinct but referenced in later centuries are Prabhrita by Syamakundacharya, Chudamani (Crest Jewel—AD 650 or earlier) by Srivaradhadeva, known as Tumbuluracharya, which is a work of 96, 000 verse-measures and a commentary on logic (Tatwartha-mahashastra).

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25.

Kannada's works have been praised by later poets, although none of his works are available today.

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26.

The Kannada spoken between the rivers Varada and Malaprabha was the pure well of Kannada undefiled.

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27.

Emperor Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I of 850 AD recognised that the Sanskrit style of Kannada literature was Margi and Desi (folk or spoken form of language) style was popular and made his people aware of the strength and beauty of their native language Kannada.

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28.

Kannada has written it using very limited Sanskrit words which fit with idiomatic Kannada.

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29.

In 1235 AD, Jain poet Andayya, wrote Kabbigara Kava- ????? ???, called Sobagina Suggi (Harvest of Beauty) or Madana-Vijaya and Kavana-Gella (Cupid's Conquest), a Champu work in pure Kannada using only indigenous (desya) Kannada words and the derived form of Sanskrit words – tadbhavas, without the admixture of Sanskrit words.

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30.

Kannada succeeded in his challenge and proved wrong those who had advocated that it was impossible to write a work in Kannada without using Sanskrit words.

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31.

Kannada's work, entirely composed in the native Bhamini Shatpadi, is a sublime adaptation of the first ten books of the Mahabharata.

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32.

Kannada works produced from the 19th century make a gradual transition and are classified as Hosagannada or Modern Kannada.

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33.

Contemporary Kannada literature has been highly successful in reaching people of all classes in society.

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34.

Further, Kannada has produced a number of prolific and renowned poets and writers such as Kuvempu, Bendre, and V K Gokak.

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35.

Works of Kannada literature have received eight Jnanpith awards, the highest number awarded to any Indian language.

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36.

Ethnologue classifies a group of four languages related to Kannada, which are, besides Kannada proper, Badaga, Holiya, Kurumba and Urali.

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37.

The Golars or Golkars are a nomadic herdsmen tribe present in Nagpur, Chanda, Bhandara, Seoni and Balaghat districts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh speak the Golari dialect of Kannada which is identical to the Holiya dialect spoken by their tribal offshoot Holiyas present in Seoni, Nagpur and Bhandara of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

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38.

In 2008 the Indian government announced that Kannada was to be designated as one of the classical languages of India.

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39.

The Kannada script is almost entirely phonetic, but for the sound of a "half n".

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40.

The oldest available Kannada dictionary was composed by the poet 'Ranna' called 'Ranna Kanda' in 996 AD.

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41.

Kannada wrote a Kannada–English dictionary and a klistapadakosa, a dictionary of difficult words.

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42.

Additionally, Kannada included the following phonemes, which dropped out of common usage in the 12th and 18th century respectively:.

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43.

Kannada is a highly inflected language with three genders and two numbers (singular and plural).

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44.

Compound bases, called samasa in Kannada, are a set of two or more words compounded together.

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